I always like to look at how the bookies are calling it for a sense of what states need to be won. Currently the best odds you'll get on Obama are 9-1 on with some pricing him at 25-1 on. McCain on the other hand is somewhere between 5-1 and 8-1 which are pretty long odds for a two horse race. Ladbrokes' Firewall Finder bet is an interesting one in terms of figuring out what states to watch.

"Now, 10 years later, I don't really see anything funny or amusing about it, and there was really nothing special about his term. Seems to me like he ran business as usual as far as the government is concerned."

Pretty much the only thing I'll give Ventura credit for is that he proved it wasn't political suicide in the US to be an avowed atheist /agnostic.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one! Thinking about that, though, makes me wonder how many state (and even federal) legislators and leaders are not of the religious persuasion. A fair amount, I'd bet. Religion is one of those issues that really isn't an issue until someone makes it one. It's like the whole "Holy hell, Obama is a Muslim (but isn't really)!" thing. I could care less what the guy believes as long as he can lead and isn't a fanatic, you know? The only time people use religion in a political campaign is to get the xenophobia running rampant.

At some point in the last 9 months, fivethirtyeight.com became the best political journalists out there. I think there's only two of them: making roadtrips across the country, describing what they see, analyzing coverage, doing the numbers, and looking deeper than anyone else I've read.

After the rally, we witnessed a near-street riot involving the exiting McCain crowd and two Cuban-American Obama supporters. Tony Garcia, 63, and Raul Sorando, 31, were suddenly surrounded by an angry mob. There is a moment in a crowd when something goes from mere yelling to a feeling of danger, and that's what we witnessed. As photographers and police raced to the scene, the crowd elevated from stable to fast-moving scrum, and the two men were surrounded on all sides as we raced to the circle.

They end up catching up with the two guys, and tell their story. It's a snapshot of political reality on a ground level. They don't generalize or reach for platitudes.

There's also a handful of wonderful pieces where they visit campaign offices in Virginia and Ohio and elsewhere, capturing the moods of each team's effort. There's a ...strong contrast.

rickiep00h"Now, 10 years later, I don't really see anything funny or amusing about it, and there was really nothing special about his term. Seems to me like he ran business as usual as far as the government is concerned."

Nothing special, indeed. Kind of showed, though, that even an assclown with a high school diploma (still can't figure out of he graduated from NHCC with a degree) can do the same "standard" "business as usual" job as a "real" politician....

"Now, because he knows that his economic theories don't work, he's been spending these last few days calling me every name in the book. Lately he's called me a socialist for wanting to roll-back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans so we can finally give tax relief to the middle class. I don't know what's next. By the end of the week he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

"We must in all seriousness ask if Barack Hussein Obama could be a Muslim terrorist sympathizer or a Marxist mole. His closest friends include Communists, domestic and Muslim terrorists, racists and convicted felons. In his book Audacity of Hope, Barack Hussein Obama says, 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'"